7. How to begin acknowledging your sources?
|
There are a number of useful practices to ensure that you acknowledge all your sources at all stages of the assignment process: in beginning early, in reading for your assignment, taking notes for your assignment and writing your assignment.
Begin Early!
Often students are tempted to plagiarise because they have not given themselves sufficient time to complete their assignments. When you receive your assignment topics and due dates, a good idea is to allow at least one week for every 1000 words you have to write as well as an extra week or two if you want your tutor or the Academic Skills Program to offer advice. Mark these starting dates in your diary or wall planner, and you’ll always know when to start so that you have sufficient time to complete your assignments.
Reading for your assignment
You cannot write the assignment if you don’t understand the concepts. If you have trouble understanding the readings, talk to your lecturer/ tutor or see the Academic Skills Program staff.
Check the Academic Skills Program website on how to read academic texts
Making notes for your assignment
1. Use your assignment key words to search the index and text for relevant passages.
2. Read the relevant passage paragraph by paragraph.
3. Think carefully about what the author was saying so that you understand it.
4. Turn the text over, or minimise the window if you’re writing from an online source.
5. Write down the author, date and page number/s.
6. Write about what the author was saying in your own words in bullet points (do not write anything that you do not fully understand).
7. Turn the text back over, or maximise the window, and check you have the right idea.
Writing your assignment
• Talk about the topic of your essay with your friends, parents or partner. That will help you to make sense of the topic.
• Write a preliminary essay outline, and gather your notes under these headings
• Write your essay from your notes. Only open the textbook or articles if it is absolutely necessary.
• Try to write as much as possible in your own ‘voice’ and referencing your sources. It may not feel as if your language is ‘academic’ at this stage; there may be grammar errors, or clumsy wordings, but that is better than copying from your sources.
Quiz Section
|
|
giving my opinion without any references